NEW DELHI: The spotlight shone brightly on teenage prodigy Lamine Yamal as Barcelona, the current leaders of La Liga, triumphed with a commanding 4-1 win against Girona on Sunday. The young Spanish talent netted two goals in the first half, establishing a strong foundation for Barcelona’s impressive display and avenging their previous season’s defeats to Girona.
Under the leadership of Hansi Flick, who previously managed Bayern Munich and the German national team, Barcelona has made an outstanding start to their season by winning all five of their initial matches. Their performance at Montilivi was a testament to this momentum and marked one of Flick’s most successful outings since taking charge.
Yamal opened the scoring by seizing on a defensive error from David Lopez, deftly stealing possession before finishing coolly past goalkeeper Paulo Gazzaniga. His second goal came just before halftime—a precise shot from outside the box that further solidified Barcelona’s dominance in the match.
In addition to Yamal’s contributions, Dani Olmo and Pedri Gonzalez also found the back of the net in the second half. Olmo showcased his skill with an exquisite finish from a narrow angle while Pedri displayed composure after being set up by Marc Casado for his goal—both efforts underscoring Barcelona’s attacking prowess.
Girona faced challenges throughout as they struggled to match Barcelona’s intensity. Despite Cristhian Stuani managing to score a late consolation goal for Girona, they were unable to pose any serious threat due to significant player departures during the summer transfer window following their impressive third-place finish last season.
Barcelona did encounter minor setbacks; Gazzaniga thwarted Robert Lewandowski’s attempted chip shot while Ferran Torres received a red card late in the game for a high tackle on Yaser Asprilla. Nevertheless, these incidents had little impact on Barcelona’s overall superiority or their perfect record at this stage of the campaign.
Meanwhile, reigning champions Real Madrid secured a 2-0 victory over Real Sociedad earlier that day, positioning themselves in second place—four points adrift of Flick’s formidable squad at Barcelona. Later that same day, Atletico Madrid was set to face Valencia while Athletic Bilbao prepared for an away match against Las Palmas.
